Cigar-box filler



No. 748,624. PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904. v H. J. LEWIS.

CIGAR BOX FILLER.

'APPLIOATION FILED APILB. 1903.

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H. J. LEWIS.

CIGAR BOX FILLER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6. 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

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H. J. LEWIS.. CIGAR BOX FILLER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6, 1903.

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' UNITED STATES Patented January 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CIGAR-BOX FILLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 748,624, dated January 5, 1904. Application filed April 6, 1903. Serial No. 151,222. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. LEWIS, a citizen of. the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county ofHennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigar-Box Fillers;

' and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved device for holding cigars in boxes and is in the nature of a self-sustaining cigar carrier or cellular filler for the box which is adapted to hold the cigars out of contact with each other and to relieve the same from pressure from the box.

To the above ends the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

It is a well-known fact that the delicate texture of the tobacco of a good cigar is very much injured by any considerable pressure. Hence high grades of cigars cannot be made in a wooden or metal mold or even in apaper mold, but must be made by hand. For years it has been the common practice to pack these high-grade hand-made cigars, as well as the cheaper grades, in cigar-boxes into which they are forced undersuch pressure that they are pressed out of shape to a greater or less extent and their wrappers damaged. Having myself long noted the above objece tions and other minor objections to packing cigars in boxes under What is known as boxpressure, I have directed my invention to simple, efficient, and practicable means for removing all of such objectionable features.

Inaccordance with my invention Iprovide a self-sustaining cigar-carrier made up of a plurality of connected cells that are tied together and braced in two directions. Such a cigarcarrier is especially adapted for use as a filler for cigar-boxes to prevent the cigars from bein g pressed out of shape by pressure from the box. In the preferred form of the carrier the cellsare expansible, so that they will fit cigars of dilferent size; but the cells are in all cases spacedapart and connected and braced in two directions, so that their axes will stand in fixed-relation to each other regardless of the size of the cigars.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the socalled box-filler removed from the box, some parts being broken away and some being shown by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken through a cigarbox which is shown as filled with cigars held by the improved box-filler. Fig. 3 is a detail view in perspective showing a portion of the box-filler illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a View corresponding to Fig. 1., but illustrating a modified construction. Fig. 5 is a perspective view in detail showing'a portion of the box-filler illustrated in Fig. 4.. Fig. 6 is a perspective view corresponding to Figs. 1 and 4., but illustrating still another construction; and Fig. 7 is a detail in perspective of a portion of the box-filler illustrated in Fig. 6.

Referring first to the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and directing attention first to Fig. 2, the numeral 1 indicates an ordinary cigar-box having a lid 2, hinged at 3. The character 2 indicates cigars. To form the cells into which the cigars are inserted, strips of paper at are fluted or bent to form a series of connected semicylindrical sections. To form a horizontal row of cells two of thesefluted strips are placed with their sharply-bent edges a in contact, so that the alined semicylindrical sections form cylindrical or approximately cylindrical cells, into which the cigars may be inserted. Attention is here particularly called to Fig. 3. The sharply-bent edges a of the fluted strips on are slitted about half-way across, as indicated at 0. To bind the several pairs of horizontal strips or together, a plurality of so-called tiestrips b are provided. These tie-strips b are provided with deep and narrow notches or slits b, that extend transversely about halfway across the same. The uncut portions of the tie-strips b are inserted into the vertically-alined slits a of the fluted strips 0., and their slits I) embrace and clamp together the uncut portions of the abutting edges a of the said strips a.

The lock-strips b thus bind to- ICO gether the cooperating pairs of strips a, and properly space apart vertically the horizontal rows of cylindrical cells formed thereby. To give the cells an elasticity, so that they will adapt themselves to cigars that vary considerable in diameter, they are' formed with longitudinal outwardly-pressed creases 0.

After the box-filler just described has been filled with cigars a binder or girdle c is placed around the same, as shown by full lines in Fig. l, and its ends are brought together overlapped and secured, preferably, by an adhesive material. This binder 0 serves to more securely hold together the cells of the filler, and especially the outer cells, and holds the whole body of the filler within predetermined bounds or space. The binder c is engrailed or formed with outwardly-pressed portions 0, which are adapted to engage the bottom, ends, and top of the box, and thus space the body of the binder therefrom and cause the same to form, as it were, an endless cushion between the said parts and the filler.

To protect the tips of the cigars, a cushionplate f is placed between the same and the back of the box. This cushion-plate) is engrailed or formed with a plurality of outwardly-pressed portions f, which directly engage the back of the box, so that it will afford a cushion or yielding stop for engagement with the tips of the cigars, and thus prevent the same from being broken. At its lower edge this cushion-plate f is bent horizontally at f and is attached to the lower portion of the binder c by means of adhesive material. Thus all of the parts are secured together.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 4 the cells are of rectangular form and are formed by interlocked strips, certain of which extend vertically and certain of which extend horizontally. In order that the strips g may be interlocked, they are provided with reverselycut slits or notches g. The notches in the one strip embrace the uncut portions of the interlocking strip back of their respective slits, so that the edges of the vertical and horizontal strips lie in the same planes. In this construction the binder c engages the projecting ends of the strips g and these ends afford a cushion between said binder and the cells, so that, in this instance, it is not necessary to engrail or emboss the said binder. The cushion-platef, with its indentations f and lateral extensions f is, however, em-

ployed in the same way and for the same purposes as in the constructionpreviously described.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 a filler having cells for receiving the cigars is formed by folding a strip 70, as best shown in Fig. 7, so as to form a, series of stalls or trays that are open at their tops and ends. The strip 1c thus folded is then preferably secured by adhesive material to a bottom strip which holds the same in proper form. The horizontally-extended trays thus formed are In Fig. 6, however, the upper tray is shown as raised. A binder, such as illustrated in the constructions previously described, may then be placed around the series of trays to bind together the body of the filler. In this construction also the cushion-plate f, with its indentationsf and lateral extensions f is preferably employed. In this arrangement the extensionf of the said cushion-plate may be struck or secured to the bot-tom of the lower tray, or if a binder be employed it may, as in the other arrangement, be secured to the lower portion or bottom of the said binder.

In the preferred construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, the so-called tiestrips b interlock with the longitudinal fluted strips a to make the plurality of cells self-sustaining in both directions and to space the cells apart in such a way that the one cell may expand or contract without expanding or contracting the adjacent cells.

From what has been said it will of course be understood that the invention is capable of modifications other than those herein illustrated within the scope of my invention, as herein set forth and claimed.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

cells constructed and braced to be self-sustaining in two directions, and a flexible embossed binder independent of said cells, surrounding said group of cells and binding the same together and affording an endless cushion, substantially as described.

2. A self-sustaining cigar-carrier made up of a plurality of independently-expansible cells involving means for holding and spacing the. cells in two directions in such manner that the one cell may expand or contract without expanding or contracting the adjacent cells, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a cigar-box, of a filler therefor made up of a plurality of connected cells, and a cushion-plate connected to the lower portion of said filler, at one edge, free at its other edge, and having its cushioning portion bent at a right angle to its lower connected portion, whereby it is positioned between the tips of the cigars and the adjacent side of the box.

rality of connected cells, a wrapper surrounding said group of cells and binding the same together, and a cushion-plate attached at its lower edge to the lower portion of said wrapper, free at its other edge, and having its cushioning portion bent at a right angle to its lower attached portion, whereby it is positioned between the tips of the cigars and the adjacent side of the box.

5. Acigar-carriercomprisingthecell-strips a bent to form semicylindrical sections creased at a and having intervening angular edges a slitted at 0. the lock-strips bwith slits b, said strips being placed in said slits set one on top of the other, as shown in Fig. 6.

a with their slits b embracing and locking 1. A cigar-carrier made up of a plurality of 4:. A filler for cigar-boxes comprising a plu- IIO together the uncut portions of said edges a, and the wrapper surrounding the group of cells, substantially as described.

6. The combination with the cell-strips (1 having creases a, and intervening angular edges a with slits (1, the cooperating strips a i being placed with their edges a in contact, of the lock-strips b slit-ted at b and inserted in said slits (1 with their slits b embracing and locking together the uncut portions of the abutting edges a, and an embossed wrapper surrounding and binding together the group of cells and holding the same within certain limits, and affording an endless cushion, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY J. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

GENEVIEVE HIRSCH, F. D. MERCHANT. 

